Six Lowell wind protesters sentenced to community service

Six protesters arrested last December for blocking a road used to construct the Kingdom Community Wind project have fines converted to 25 hours of community service

Dec. 11, 2012

The first of 21 industrial wind turbines is erected in July on Lowell Mountain by Green Mountain Power. During construction in December of 2011, six protesters were cited for blocking construction vehicles. Tuesday they were each sentenced to 25 hours of community service. / Courtesy Green Mountain Power

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Free Press Staff Writer

NEWPORT — Six protesters arrested during construction of the 21-turbine wind energy project in Lowell were each sentenced Tuesday to 25 hours of community service.

A spokesman for the six defendants said Superior Court Judge Martin Maley initially fined each of the protesters $250. He converted that to community service at the rate of $10 an hour after an appeal by the defendants’ attorney.

The six were arrested for trespassing on Lowell Mountain in December 2011 as they blocked a road used for construction of the Kingdom Community Wind project of Green Mountain Power.

The six are Dr. Ron Holland of Irasburg, Anne Morse of Craftsbury Common, David Rodgers of Craftsbury, Ryan Gillard of Plainfield, Suzanna Jones of Walden and Eric Wallace-Senft of Woodbury.

Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, the group repeated its opposition to the construction of the mountaintop turbines.

“We must take dramatic and effective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — but this project fails to do that,” they said in a prepared statement. “We should be taking control of our energy economy on a community level — but this project fails on that measure as well.”

“We will serve the sentences we received today as the price for moving the conversation forward,” the statement said.